Immigrant Women of Inspiration honoured for International Women’s Day

In recognition of International Women’s Day, this Saturday, March 8, Canadian Immigrant introduces our first annual “Immigrant Women of Inspiration” special — for 2014, we chose five phenomenal role models for their work in empowering other women.

Mina MawaniLeading women and girls out of poverty and violence

Mina Mawani was getting settled nicely into her new leadership position with the Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance, when she got a surprising phone call. It was the Canadian Women’s Foundation calling, a non-profit organization based in Toronto, looking for a new president and CEO. They wanted Mawani.

She couldn’t refuse.

“The work that the foundation does is so phenomenal in empowering women and girls out of poverty and violence,” says Mawani, who started her position this January. “I’m still trying to understand the depth and breadth of all the work the foundation does. It was 22 years ago that a few women talking over coffee started this incredible foundation, and it has a phenomenal group of staff, donors and board members, all of whom are committed to helping women and girls. We all know how difficult it is for women and girls trying to move out of violence and poverty, and [the foundation] is an empowering force showing them what the possibilities are in life.”

Mawani has some personal experience with facing such obstacles. A young child in Uganda during the Idi Amin era, Mawani and her family found themselves in a refugee camp in Austria and then coming to Canada, where “everything was different — “food, weather, clothing, and and didn’t speak English.” Most dramatically, the family, who had had a comfortable living in Uganda, were now thrown into poverty in Canada. “Growing up as a woman in poverty, that’s where the passion comes from that makes me want to be here [at the foundation],” she says. “My parents had five children, and my dad’s aunt all moved together; there were eight of us living in a two-bedroom apartment for many, many years. We all faced discrimination coming to a new country and had to come together as a family, not having enough money to feed ourselves,” she says. “But we had happiness in our family. Despite a lack of food and material things, we were strong and resilient. My mom taught us to be.

“My mother was a very strong role model, and said that women must be confident and must educate themselves,” she explains, adding that her Ismaili faith also encouraged the same principles. “The Agha Kan always guided us to educate our girls. If we look after the girls in the family, those girls will grow up to educate their family and communities.”

Mawani worked hard to educate herself, and completed post-secondary at a master’s level and build an enviable career (perhaps most notably as CEO of the Aga Khan Council for Canada, where she contributed to planning for a new Ismaili Centre and Museum in Toronto), all while starting a family of her own (she has a daughter and son).

“I wish I could bottle up what it feels like to be part of this organization,” says Mawani. “What I love is the passion that we have to invest in the strength of women and dreams of girls. We have to let women know they are strong and encourage girls to dream big!”

— Margaret Jetelina

Beba SvigirHelping immigrant women succeed

When Beba Svigir and her husband emigrated from wartorn Yugoslavia in 1996, it was to provide a better life for their two sons. “We wanted to secure a better future for our children, a future free of conflict, biases and religious misunderstandings,” she says.

They chose Canada because it aligned with their values, and chose to settle in Calgary. However, like many immigrants, she found that her overseas qualifications were not recognized.

“I realized how difficult it is to have a fresh start in Canada after the age of 40, and with children,” she says.

After struggling to find work as a teacher, she got a job working with immigrants before managing a family resource centre. In 2006, she became the executive director of the Calgary Immigrant Women’s Association, a non-profit organization that provides projects and programs for refugee women, girls and their families.

Providing support to immigrant women and their families is important to Svigir, who faced many of the same challenges she sees her clients facing. She believes the biggest challenge is a lack of knowledge of the English language, as the ability to communicate is essential for learning and integrating into a new country. Knowledge of English also increases the chances of receiving better opportunities for education and employment. Other challenges, of course, include not having foreign credentials recognized and a lack of Canadian work experience.

“I definitely went through many experiences where I felt I wasn’t given the opportunity I deserved based on my skills,” she says.

Women, in particular, face unique challenges that must be overcome to succeed within Canada. “Barriers that immigrant women face are very similar to the ones women face in the rest of the world,” she says.

“Women with children don’t receive sufficient parenting support to set up their children for success and help them reconcile cultural differences their children are exposed to.”

Svigir recommends utilizing the support services available from government and non-profit organizations like hers. “Provided they have access to services like those that Calgary Immigrant Women’s Association offers, there are beautiful opportunities for immigrant women to turn challenges to their advantage.”

Recognizing challenges as they arise, as well as believing you are capable of overcoming them, is essential to succeeding in Canada. “Immigrant women, and men, need to believe in themselves and their skills,” she says.

By believing in yourself, embracing change and contributing toward personal growth, Svigir believes that immigrants can take responsibility for the kind of future they want and be drivers of their own destiny.

Also important is contributing to the community, workplace and neighbourhood you belong to.

“In this beautiful country called Canada, we have a role to play and our children will inevitably shape the future of this country,” she says. “We owe it to our children to strive for the skies and make sure we seek success for ourselves and for them.”

Ultimately, it’s important to be proud of who you are and where you are from. “Believe that being an immigrant is just a beautiful word that distinguishes you in a positive way,” she says.

— Emily RoseCaroline CodsiImproving the position of women in the boardroom

Caroline Codsi wants to improve the visibility of women on boards across Canada. As former vice-president at Knightsbridge, a large human capital solutions firm in Montreal, and the current general manager for Eastern Canada at Cira Medical Services, Codsi understands the barriers women face in breaking the glass ceiling. Although women make up half of the corporate workforce in Canada, they make up only 14 per cent of board members. And immigrant women fare much worse in the numbers.

Originally from Lebanon, since arriving in Canada in 1990, Codsi has made it her mission to get involved with non-profit organizations, which has, in turn, grown her professional standing. “I feel very fortunate. I’m much luckier than a lot of other people that are stuck in places that are at war and in places that are much less developed than Canada. We’re here and it’s our duty to contribute to this society that has made room for us,” she says.

Codsi first began working with the Missing Children’s Network and served on their board for five years. “It all started with just wanting to do something to help a not-for-profit in Quebec,” she says. Since then, Codsi has become a go-to person for not-for-profits in the province and has worked with a dozen other organizations including the Salvation Army, Women’s Y (YWCA) and the Young Lebanese Chamber of Commerce either by sitting on their board, helping organize events or serving as an emcee.

In 2010, she founded La Gouvernance au Feminin (Women and Boards) to support women in their leadership development, career advancement and to help women gain access to seats on boards. “Originally, I was simply trying to put together a group of engaged women who did a lot in the community who liked to network together,” says Codsi. Their first meeting attracted 150 women. Four years later, Codsi says there are still only 14 per cent of women on boards, “but at least the mentality is changing and women are understanding the importance of making a difference on a board to have an impact on society.”

Despite the fact that women are now more visible in the corporate world, Codsi says networking and personal support are two areas that prevent women from getting ahead.

“[Women are supportive of each other] in a social way, but not so much in a professional way,” says Codsi. La Gouvernance au Feminin aims to change that.The organization provides workshops to help women improve their personal branding and networking skills, as Codsi points out, women are often too modest and less comfortable boasting about their achievements than their male counterparts.

Immigrant women, in particular, have great opportunities to get involved with progressive organizations that are looking for diversity on their boards, as well as with non-profits in their own ethnic communities. The key, says Codsi, is to network. “If people are going to nominate you, they have to know who you are. If no one knows who you are, you’re going to stay in your office.”

As a child growing up in Antigua, Althea Prince found her voice through the written word. Although she didn’t publish any of her work until she was in her mid-40s and living in Canada, she says writing has always been a form of emotional release for her. She now leads a creative writing and storytelling program at Newcomer Women’s Services in Toronto to help other women do the same.

The program, which has included girls as young as 14 and women up to 60 years of age, has resulted in two published books: Listening to Ourselves: Stories About Life and Re-Imaging the Sky: An Anthology by Newcomer Women, which was published by TSAR Publications in 2013.

Although the collections of poetry and stories are written in English; in the workshops, the women are encouraged to write in their native language and have their work later translated into English for publication. “Just because women aren’t able to speak the language of the country in which they’re living doesn’t mean they don’t have something to say creatively,” says Prince. Although not all of the stories deal with immigration, Prince says simply writing down thoughts and feelings can help deal with all the new emotions that immigrating to a new country brings to the surface. “All the angst of being an immigrant can be released in any creative process, and I wanted to provide a way to bring their voice out onto the page,” says Prince.

Immigration, says Prince, can make someone feel like a second-class citizen, especially when one’s own culture is very different from the Anglo or Franco cultures of Canada. Prince has mentored women from all around the world; places such as Sudan, Iran, India and Mauritius, and says the fact that these women’s writings are now found in the public libraries in Canada is a huge step forward in providing them with a sense of belonging. “It takes a long time to feel that one has settled into the country and [having the book] helps that process,” says Prince, speaking from personal experience.

Even though Prince had been living in Canada for several years before publishing her first book, she still recalls the pride she felt the day she saw her book on the shelf in the public library. “I felt my face get hot,” she recalls. “It gives a reaffirming sense of being a member of the society and belonging.” That’s a feeling she hopes to share with all newcomer women who wish to tell their tale to the world.

— Lisa Evans

Mandi SellersEmpowering confidence in women and girls

It was a typical day for Mandi Sellers almost three years ago: she woke up, drove to her office in downtown Vancouver, had a busy day of meetings, came home to have dinner with her family, caught up on some email, and watched a little TV before going to bed. “I was happy and seemed to have it all, but I felt something was missing,” says Sellers.

That night she had a dream that changed things for her. In the dream, Sellers had this feeling of confidence and radiance, something she realized she lacked in real life.

“After that dream, I realized I needed to give myself some credit. It had taken me a lot of struggle and hardship to get to where I was, so why wasn’t I fulfilled?”

Sellers, who immigrated to Canada from India as a child, had battled to find her identity as both a woman and a Canadian, being pulled between the two cultures. Sellers faced a lot of scrutiny for the choices she made as she grew into adulthood; one of those choices was marrying a Caucasian man. “I felt I really had to find my own way.”

She worked hard and eventually became president and CEO of her own company, Com-Tech Solutions, continues to be happily married and has two daughters, but none of that success completely eliminated her lack of confidence. It was that dream that gave her an idea to throw together a women’s conference, which would motivate confidence in women and inspire them to grow and celebrate themselves.

After three successful events, called Glow: A Women’s Evening of Change and Celebration, she, along with help from a group of women volunteers who worked with her to execute her initial vision, recently formed a non-profit organization called Glow Women’s Society.

The focus of the society is to create proactive and local programs to inspire real confidence in women and girls.

“We have lots of things going on and big plans for the future. We’re running women’s events and are now in development with a program called Glow Girl, geared to the next generation of women,” says Sellers. “I am thrilled with what we’ve accomplished so far, and there will be much more to come.”

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Founded in 2004, the magazine began with a mandate to "inform, educate and motivate" immigrants to Canada and assist them in their new found journey. Since then, the magazine has grown to be the only national multi-platform brand for all immigrants to Canada, on topics from careers to education to settlement.
Canadian Immigrant not only connects newcomers in Canada, but also aspiring immigrants from more than 150 countries.

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